Sport racquets, such as tennis, racquetball, squash and badminton racquets, are well known and typically include a frame having a head portion coupled to a handle assembly. The head portion forms a hoop having inner and outer surfaces and a number of grommet holes, which are typically drilled through the inner and outer surfaces of the head portion. A bumper guard is often placed on at least a portion of the outer surface of the head portion of the racquet in order to protect the head portion of the racquet from damage resulting from impacts with the ground, walls, and other structures during play. These impacts between the head portion of the racquet frame and the ground, walls and/or other hard objects often occur frequently during play. The bumper guard are typically formed of a wear and impact resistant material to inhibit damage to the head portion of the racquet frame including abrasions, cracking and wear. Existing bumper guards typically are configured to generally conform to the outer surface of the head portion of the racquet frame including a centrally extending recess for receiving racquet string. Existing bumper guards also typically include string holes and/or grommets for enabling racquet string to be routed over and through the bumper guard and the racquet frame.
Existing bumper guards have drawbacks. In order to provide sufficient protection to the racquet frame, bumper guards typically must be formed of hard, tough, durable material having sufficient thickness to absorb the frequent impacts with hard surfaces and objects. The bumper guard cannot be formed of a material so hard that it becomes brittle. As such, the material thickness often determines the service life of a bumper guard. In order to provide a service life of sufficient duration, bumper guards are often formed of materials having considerable thickness. Although the increased thickness can increase the service life of the bumper guard, it also results in increased, and often undesirable, extra weight added to the head portion of the racquet.
Existing bumper guards typically also do little to reduce or dampen the shock and vibration, resulting from impacts with hard surfaces and objects, that is passed onto the racquet frame and ultimately is felt by the user.
In an attempt to address these drawbacks, some existing bumper guard configurations include a pair of opposing wings or flanges outwardly extending from the longitudinal centerline of the bumper guard, wherein a portion of each wing or flange is spaced apart or floating over the head portion of the racquet frame to form a plurality of openings. The openings can be unfilled, or filled with an elastomeric material. The spaced apart configuration of a portion of the wings from the head portion of the racquet frame provide a cushion of air or elastomeric material between the bumper guard and the head portion of the racquet frame. Although these types of configurations can reduce the weight of the bumper guard and can provide additional shock absorption, upon impact, the outer surface of the bumper guard and/or the elastomeric material placed into the openings can be compressed against the head portion of the racquet frame leading to mechanical abrasion and wear against the outer surface of the racquet frame. In yet another attempt to improve a bumper guard, a lumen is installed into each opening between the wings of the bumper guard and the head portion of the racquet frame. The lumens can be hollow or filled with an elastomeric material. The lumens due not fill the entire opening between the wings and the racquet frame and are compressible and capable of moving relative to the racquet frame. As a result, the lumens and/or the wings of the bumper guard can also rub or wear against the racquet frame during impact potentially resulting in damage or wear to the racquet frame.
Thus, there is a continuing need for an improved bumper guard that can provide proper protection to the racquet frame without adding excessive or unnecesary weight to the racquet. There is also a continuing need for an improved bumper guard that reduces the amount of shock and vibration felt by the user from impact with a ball. What is also needed is an improved bumper guard that does not enable a deflectable outer wing of the bumper guard to deflect, rub or otherwise wear against the head portion of the racquet frame.